
Yael Ben-Zion (b. 1973, Minneapolis, MN and raised in Israel) is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yale Law School and the International Center of Photography. Her photographs place the personal narrative within a political context, presenting a simultaneous duality of intimacy and public story. Ben-Zion is the recipient of various grants and awards, including ICP’s Directors’ Scholarship Award, the International Photography Awards, and grants from NoMAA and the Puffin Foundation. In 2007, her photograph Crash was selected for the cover of American Photography 23. Yael’s first monograph, 5683 miles away (Kehrer, 2010), was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010 and for the PDN Photo Annual 2011. It was also a nominee for the German Photo Book Award 2011. Intermarried (Kehrer, 2013), her second monograph, was selected for American Photography 30 and featured in a variety of publications, among them, the New York Times Sunday Review, PDN Magazine and the Forward.
BORN
Minneapolis, MN, USA and raised in Israel
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Still Lives, Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY, USA
2017
5683 Miles Away, curated by Prof. Simcha Shirman, Morel Derfler Gallery, The NB Haifa School of Design, Haifa, Israel
2015
Works, Gaa Gallery, Wellfleet, MA, USA
Building Bridges, YM&YWHA of Washington Heights and Inwood, New York, NY, USA
2014
Intermarried, in conjunction with Project Y's production of Renee Calarco's play The Religion Thing, the Cell Theatre, New York, NY, USA
Intermarried, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY, USA
Intermarried, Café Buunni, New York, NY, USA
Intermarried, Chapin School, New York, NY, USA
Intermarried, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, La Galeria at Boricua College, New York, NY
2013
Intermarried, Café Buunni, New York, NY, USA
2012
Lost and Found, Le Chéile Art Space, New York, NY, USA
5683 miles away, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, New York, NY, USA
2011
5683 miles away, The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery, The 92nd Street Y, New York, NY, USA
2007
The City Elders, National Family Caregiver Month Exhibition, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
The Smack Mellon Benefit Exhibition, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
Currents: Abortion, Curated by Barbara Zucker, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Call and Response: Art as Resistance, Slideshow & Performance, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
2017
Uproot, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
Abre Caminos / Opening Paths, curated by Esperanza Cortés, Rio II Gallery, NY, NY
Artists Unite-MTA Poster Project, Hudson View Gardens Lounge, New York, NY
The Female Gaze: Portraits, online exhibition curated by Ashley Kauschinger, Don’t Smile
Unnatural Election: Artists Respond to the 2016 US Presidential Election, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Kimmel Galleries, New York University, New York, NY
2016
Cats + Creatures, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, MA, USA
Uptown Arts Review, curated by Andrea Arroyo, Rio II Gallery, New York, NY, USA
There is a Garden, and It Exists, organized by the students of MassArt’s FA2D Professional Practices, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
Professional Practices, Distillery Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2015
Power, Protest, and Resistance: The Art of Revolution, curated by Danny Simmons and Oshun Layne, Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Not MY Family Values, curated by Rebecca Senf, Art Photo Index online exhibition
2014
Tributo a Los Desaparecidos/Tribute to the Disappeared memorial quilt project, La Casa Azul Bookstore, New York, NY, USA
NoMAA Uptown Arts Review, curated by Rosa Naparstek, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY, USA
TokoNoMAA: Stories of Home in the Heights, a NoMAA-MoMA multidisciplinary project, Journey Space, New York, NY, USA
TokoNoMAA: Stories of Home in the Heights, a NoMAA-MoMA multidisciplinary project, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, New York, NY, USA
2013
Family, Juried by Katherine Ware, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, USA
TokoNoMAA: Stories of Home in the Heights, a NoMAA-MoMA multidisciplinary project, Taszo Expresso Bar, New York, NY, USA
Curate NYC, online exhibition curated by Wim van Sinderen
Experiencing a Time of War and Beyond: Portraits of Spirited Holocaust Survivors, three-person exhibition, The Gold Wing Gallery, Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, New York, NY, USA
The Photo Review Best of Show, Juried by Paul Roth, The University of the Arts’ Gallery 1401, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Immigrant Too, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY, USA
I Have a Dream – 50 Years of Change, juried by Andrea Arroyo, Grady Alexis Gallery, New York, NY, USA
4th Annual Contemporary Photography Competition & Exhibition, juried by Lesley Martin and Andy Adams, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
TokoNoMAA: Stories of Home in the Heights, a NoMAA-MoMA multidisciplinary project, Community Board 12, New York, NY, USA
NoMAA Visual Art Grantees Exhibition, curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Dimensions Variable: Multiracial Identity, curated by Gabriel de Guzman, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY, USA
PhotoSpiva Exhibition, juried by Natasha Egan, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin, MO, USA
Backyard, a Lenscratch online exhibition
2012
Mimesis: A Contemporary Photography Exhibition, juried by Pamela Pecchio, 311 West Martin Street Galleries, Raleigh, NC, USA
NoMAA Visual Art Grantees Exhibition, curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Women in the Heights – Intersections, curated by Andrea Arroyo, NoMAA Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2011
Holiday Art Fair, Rabbithole Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
The party’s in the kitchen, online exhibition curated by Christopher Rauschenberg
Photographers Photographing Now, Yale Digital Coffee online exhibition
2009
The Photo Review Web Exhibition
Late Summer Emerging Artists Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art in association with iGavel.com
Photo Folio Gallery, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
2008
Urban Space 08, photographic traveling exhibition premiering at KiM, Berlin, Germany
2007
LightPROOF, Full Time Student Exhibition, ICP, New York, NY, USA
2003
Yale School of Art Intermediate Photography Show, PABA Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA
EDUCATION
International Center of Photography, New York, NY, General Studies Program, 2007
New School University, New York, NY, Color Printing, 2004
Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, Introductory and Intermediate Photography, 2002-3
Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, J.S.D. (Lillian Goldman Scholar), 2004
Yale Law School, New Haven, CT, LL.M., 2001
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, LL.B/MBA (magna cum laude), 1998
AWARDS, GRANTS + HONORS
2014
American Photography 30, Selected for the Book
International Photography Awards, 2 Honorable Mentions
Moscow International foto Awards, Honorable Mention
2013
The Photo Review Competition, 12th Prize
Photolucida Critical Mass, Finalist
The Leopold Godowsky, Jr. Color Photography Awards, Nominee
NoMAA Creative Grant
2012
Puffin Foundation Grant
NoMAA Creative Grant
2011
PDN Photo Annual, Winner, Photo Books Category
German Photo Book Award, Nominee
International Photography Awards, 3 Honorable Mentions
2010
photo-eye’s Best Books of 2010
2009
International Photography Awards, 2nd Place in People: Family and 5 Honorable Mentions
The Photo Review Competition, Finalist
2008
Hasselblad Masters Award, Semi-Finalist
Urban Space 08, Honorable Mention
2007
American Photography 23, Selected for the Book, Cover Photograph
ICP’s Directors’ Scholarship Award